Iranian protesters see terrorist designation of the IRGC as a measure of standing by the people of Iran

Brussels Conference with members of the European Parliament

Honorable representatives of European nations,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to see you and have the opportunity to talk to you.
First, I sincerely appreciate your support for the Iranian people’s uprising. The uprising in Iran is a major development that has upset the stability of the mullahs’ religious tyranny. It has mobilized a vast social force in a struggle that guarantees the regime’s overthrow. This development will change the future of Iran and the Middle East.

I want to use this opportunity to talk about three issues:
First, why can’t the current EU policy be continued?
Second, what is the missing link in European politics?
And third, what is the prospect of the uprising and the regime’s efforts to defeat it?

IRGC, the principal agent of domestic repression and external wars

First, I must explain why the EU must change its policy toward Iran.
The Iranian people’s desire for regime change emerged in an extensive and continuous uprising. The regime responded by killing at least 750 people and arresting and torturing 30,000.
For years, the Iranian regime’s allies and advocates of the appeasement policy denied the Iranian people’s desire for regime change. Today, however, no one can conceal the fact that the people of Iran want to overthrow this regime.
As the European Parliament stated in last week’s resolution, the European Union should take effective measures, including designating the Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist entity. The symbolic naming of people is no longer effective for the current circumstances.

There is no war or major terrorist crime in the region without the IRGC acting as a direct or supporting force. Inside Iran, there is hardly any crime whose origin is not in the IRGC. We have repeatedly emphasized the need for terrorist designation of the IRGC since many years ago.
In a speech in the Parliament of Germany in March 2010, on behalf of the Iranian Resistance, I called on Western governments to include the IRGC in the list of terrorist groups. The dissolution of this evil force is among the most urgent issues the National Council of Resistance announced in its program in 1981. It is also mentioned in the second article of the Ten-Point Plan of the Iranian Resistance.
The IRGC is the principal agent of repression in Iran. Therefore, Iranian protesters see its terrorist designation as a measure of standing by the people of Iran. For this reason, the people of Iran strongly support the resolution adopted by the European Parliament.

The destructive policy of appeasement

The second issue is the missing link in the European Union’s policy.
For years, EU policy has been based on engagement with the mullahs’ regime. The other side of which has been ignoring the voice of the Iranian people and Resistance. The EU policy has been destructive, not only for the Iranian people, but also for Europe. Look at the number of European or dual citizens currently held hostage in Iran.
Europe’s failure to hold the regime accountable has given it a license for impunity for its crimes against the Iranian people and impunity for terrorism in Europe and hostage taking.
The failure to designate the IRGC this week is part of the policy of appeasement and relying on baseless analysis invented by the regime: The false image of a powerful and stable regime with no democratic alternative is what justified the continuation of the policy of appeasement.

A powerful alternative in Iran

The third issue is the prospect this uprising draws for the future.
The Iranian people have clearly demonstrated that they want freedom, democracy, and a republic based on democratic values. After years of trying to pretend that there is no resistance in Iran, now the regime’s authorities have been forced to admit the role of PMOI Resistance Units in recent months.
Therefore, the regime is focused on destroying the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. To this end, in addition to domestic repression, execution, and torture, the regime has stepped up its disinformation and demonization campaigns against the Resistance on the political scene.

The regime wants to spread the notion that there is no viable democratic alternative. It claims that overthrowing the regime is a return to the former dictatorship or chaos. But the Iranian people showed in their uprising that this claim was wrong.
The unity of all Iranian people and the existence of a widespread popular resistance rejects the claim of chaos in Iran. The people of Iran understand fully well that unlike the royal systems in Europe, monarchy has been a symbol of dictatorship in Iran over the past 200 years.

The anti-democratic forces of both past and present regimes are on the same front, the front of dictators. Four years before his overthrow, the Shah officially announced a one-party system. He said anyone who does not join this party would be either in prison or out of the country. He raised the dictatorship to the highest degree and thus paved the way for Khomeini’s coming to power. Indeed, Khomeini was the Shah’s actual crown prince.
But in the uprising of recent months, the people of Iran have chanted thousands of times that they want neither the previous dictatorship nor the current dictatorship. They are seeking freedom and democracy.

Terrorist designation of IRGC, urgent demand of the Iranian people

Dear representatives,
It is time for the European Union to adopt a new policy. The IRGC’s terrorist designation has been an urgent demand of the Iranian people for many years. Now the representatives of the 450 million people of Europe have also called for it.
The response by the High Representative to your initiative to blacklist IRGC is a disgrace. The EU refusal to implement your resolution is bowing to a terrorist regime.
The decision to blacklist IRGC is a political decision by European governments, it does not require a court’s decision as it was suggested; therefore, any excuse in this regard is not acceptable.
The regime’s foreign minister said on Monday that the EU High Representative has assured him that EU will not blacklist IRGC and he called the EP resolution a show.

It is dishonest to claim sympathy with the Iranian protesters and, at the same time, refuse to take action against their prime oppressor, the IRGC, under false pretexts. EU’s failure amounts to the continuation of the destructive policy of appeasement in disrespect of the European people’s desire, expressed by their representatives.
I call on you to continue with your admirable efforts to end this policy of appeasement and demand from the EU to blacklist the IRGC.
In addition, it is time for EU member states to shut down the regime’s embassies in Europe, whose function is to facilitate terrorist activities in Europe and justify the suppression of Iranian protestors.
The Iranian people shall overthrow the regime by relying on their uprising and Resistance. They seek a republic based on separation of religion and state, gender equality and a non-nuclear Iran.

The Iranian Resistance has always said, No to compulsory government, No to compulsory religion and No to the compulsory veil.
Regime change is the responsibility of the Iranian people. However, they expect western governments to recognize the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the regime, and the struggle of Iran’s courageous youths against the terrorist Revolutionary Guards and their right to defend themselves.
Thank you all.